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SAA carry-on luggage question:

Hi,
I read that SAA carry-on luggage restriction is 18lb, but they do allow one personal item. My carry-on luggage with wheels (19x14x6 inches) weights almost 8 lb, that leaves only 10 lb for clothes and camera/binocular. So I'm planning to bring a backpack also, but it's not on the list of "personal item".

It has been several years but they were not strict
with me when I flew out of IAD with them I used my pack as my personal item.These days I try to cram everything in one wheeled bag and strap my pack to it so I am not charged extra.Delta and Spirit are the 2 pickiest for this that I fly.Spirit even charges for overheads but prices are so good there I suck it up they do let me slide my pack under the seat
in front of me at no charge.

SAA is very strict with the weight of carry-on bags in South African airports. If you are flying out of IAD, they will not weigh it there, but if you have a connecting flight in South Africa, it will be weighed as many as three times in the airport. I carry a fairly large computer bag/personal item, and it has not been questioned, but they are very, very fussy about the weight of the carry-on. If it is too heavy, they will insist that you go back to the check-in counter and check it. The problem, of course, is that your carry-on probably contains items that you wouldn't want to check. My suggestion is that you keep all this in mind as you pack.

It is very convenient and lightweight and carries both of our duffles through the airport. (and the really heavy hippo!) We also carry our cameras/binoculars in our small backpacks. I got a nicely padded one at the Sierra Club store for about $12.

I flew SAA to Zambia about 1.5 years ago. Going to Zam they were not strict but coming back they were very strict! They made people gate check carry-ons (mostly backpacks and roller boards) and of course, they didn't treat the bags gently, nor did they come off the plane first...

We also flew SAA within South Africa (twice so far this year), just to and from Cape Town. They were also strict and weighed luggage and put them in the things that measure the size of your bag.

I would definitely take recommendations on here in order to get your luggage under the weight and size limit. You may NOT get stopped but if you do and you have expensive/important items they might not be there when you land...

generally speaking, it's not clear what they mean
(they should start by saying 2 items are aloud...etc')
if a person has a trolly + computer+ walking stick she/he should send the walking stick with the baggage??

i'm gettin' to love AIR CANADA allowing 10kg+10kg=20kg on board the plane.... (and their site simply puts a drawing with dimentions...)

Yes, Aby, but unfortunately you've always got to pack to the most stringent regulations. My neighbors are headed to Europe today and just found out a couple of days ago about the hand baggage regs for Czech Airlines... very similar to SAA and much more stringent than on their other flights. They've been frantically repacking!